Beirut: The ongoing conflict in Syria took lives of 76,021 people in 2014 making it the deadliest year so far, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. The four-year long war has claimed over 200,000 lives to date, with many massacres causing severe human rights violations according to international organizations.
The unrest that started in 2011 with nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government transformed into a brutal civil war giving rise to militant groups such as the Islamic State in 2014.
The IS which gained momentum in the previous year is an Islamic rebel group which controls a wide territory not only in Syria but also in the neighbouring Iraq, which is also a major victim of the brutalities of the IS.
According to a U.K-based monitoring group, Syria has witnessed nearly 18,000 civilian deaths in 2014, of which 3,501 were children. However a large number of combatants have also been killed, including nearly 17,000 militants, 15,747 rebel forces and 22,627 regime troops and army men.
Reportedly, the government forces are also responsible for the casualties of civilians through bombings and the use of chemical weapons.